To Chain the Beast
|fgcolor= |name=To Chain the Beast |prev=Patriot's Blood |conc= |next=Vile Disruption |image=ToChainTheBeast SC1 Map1.jpg |imgsize=250px |conflict=Brood War |date=September, 2500 |place=Char |result=*UED captures Second Overmind and takes control of Daggoth's Renegade Swarm |side1= UED Expeditionary Fleet |side2= Renegade Zerg |commanders1= Admiral Gerard DuGalle The Captain |commanders2= Three unnamed cerebrates Second Overmind |forces1= |forces2= |client= |reqmissnum= |altmission= |goal=* Bring a medic to each of the beacons surrounding the Overmind. (4) * Kill zerg cerebrates to weaken the Overmind's defenses. (3) |heroes= |newchar= |newunit= |newtech= }} To Chain The Beast is the eighth and final terran mission of Episode V of StarCraft: Brood War. History Background After the psi disrupter was secured on Braxis, Admiral Gerard DuGalle and the bulk of the UED Expeditionary Fleet traveled to Char to complete the fleet's primary objective; enslaving the Overmind, which would allow the UED to take command of the zerg and use them as weapons to help pacify the Koprulu sector. At Char, the signals of the psi disrupter disrupted the zerg in orbit, allowing the UED to land on the planet. DuGalle tasked the Captain to lead the attack, ordering him to bring four medics to the Overmind where they would use neurostims to pacify the Overmind.Gerard DuGalle: "Once you have reached the Overmind and crushed its defenders, you are to send in specially trained medics who will pacify the creature with potent Neurostim drugs. Only then will our victory be assured." StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Level/area: To Chain the Beast (in English). 1998. The Overmind was guarded by three cerebrates, each with specialized skills that contributed to the Overmind's defenses. One cerebrate pumped its energy into sunken colonies over the region, making them immune to damage. Another cerebrate concentrated on creating and reincarnating a torrasque, a powerful ultralisk breed. The third cerebrate maintained three infested command centers and sent infested terrans against the UED. The UED ultimately prevailed against the zerg and pacified the Overmind. In the days to come they would become able to control the zerg to a limited degree. Though the UED was victorious, they had made a number of enemies in the sector. Samir Duran arrived on the scene in the company of Sarah Kerrigan, who maintained her independence of the Overmind and still had command of her own broods. Kerrigan told DuGalle that she and her "associates" intended to end the UED's reign shortly, and she would show him what the zerg were truly capable of.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Mission: To Chain The Beast. (in English). 1998. Walkthrough The player is quickly informed of the invincible sunken colonies filling the map. The colonies will destroy a few buildings, and the players should retreat their s to avoid their loss. The player should immediately use their starting minerals to build a command center at this resource node, and to build an academy to train more medics to support their marines and upgrade them. An important map feature to note is that the cliff over the player's base allows a route to the secondary resource node that avoids the sunken colonies. The zerg will attack primarily with s, s and s, with the occasional , defiler, and guardian. The orange zerg have access to s, but will not use them until the brown cerebrate is dead. The major danger in the mission comes fifteen minutes in, when the torrasque spawns. The torrasque is a very powerful ultralisk that can utterly demolish the player's base on its own. The torrasque will respawn once killed after a few minutes, and will continue to do so until the brown cerebrate is dead. To defend themselves from the torrasque, the player should wall off their base with supply depots and other buildings, using a barracks or engineering bay in the line as a "door." The player receives an alert when the torrasque spawns, at which time they should lift off their command center at their expansion and retreat their units there over the cliffs back to their base. The player should be aware that the torrasque will find this route itself, so the player should similarly wall it off, and also wall off another back entrance to the west of their base. Because of the torrasque's high armor (6 base), the player will need powerful units to kill it; s work very well for this, and as few as six can kill the torrasque easily and also contribute to the defense from normal zerg attacks. The torrasque does not spawn until the fifteen minute mark, so the player has time to set up their defenses. For destroying the cerebrates, the player should tech to a science facility with a physics lab and begin building s. The sunken colonies make a ground army impossible for offense, so the player must rely on their battlecruisers to destroy at least the red cerebrate, at which point the player can reinforce their fleet to destroy the other two. With at least six battlecruisers armed with their yamato guns and some weapon and armor upgrades, they should easily be able to fight their way north to the red cerebrate and destroy it. When a cerebrate is killed, their brood goes inactive for the rest of the mission. With the red cerebrate destroyed, the player can safely wall off their expansion and will no longer need to worry about the torrasque there. The player can attempt to do this earlier, but it is difficult with the sunken colonies about. The player can now build more battlecruisers and press their attack to the brown cerebrate. This cerebrate is much more defended against air attacks than the red cerebrate, with numerous scourge and spore colonies. The battlecruisers must fight their way in, but in large enough numbers will not have trouble doing so. With the brown cerebrate dead and the torrasque halted, the orange zerg will become more aggressive and send infested terrans to attack. However, the player is very close to the orange cerebrate, and can immediately press on to destroy it as well. When all three cerebrates are dead, the zerg go completely inactive, and the player can walk four medics to the beacons around the Overmind to win the mission. Strictly speaking, the mission victory is not dependent on the death of the cerebrates, and the player can win without killing any of them. However, getting the medics to the Overmind is very difficult without first killing the cerebrates, and it is simpler to focus on killing them. Should a rapid victory be desired, however, it is possible to load medics into drop ships and make a beeline for the Overmind. With a healthy dose of luck enough medics should make it to the Overmind before they die. References Category:StarCraft Episode V missions Category:StarCraft Terran missions